Down the Shinobi's Path
by Shini the megami
Summary: A girl born an anomaly, a boy who proves great things come in small packages and a boy who's not all he seems are put together to form team 13. DISCONTINUED
1. Chapter 1

**Down the Shinobi's Path**

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto or anything associated with Naruto in any way, shape, or form. I wish I did though. Nor do I own the song whose lyrics are briefly featured in the first chapter. What I do own is Kareha, Kei, Ren, and any people you don't recognize from the series.

**Author's Notes**: This is an OC fan fiction. It is going to focus on my OC team. They're a part of the rookie nine of Team Gai's year and thus Team Gai will be mentioned and/or make brief appearances. Other Naruto characters will be mentioned and make appearances later on though. On that note, this fanfic is slightly AU, in the sense that my OC team will participate in the Chuunin exams with the rest of the Naruto characters along with one other minor OC team to even out the numbers. That is about the extent of which my OC team interferes with the canon. Also there might be a mild one-sided GaiOC pairing, I say 'might' because I haven't decided if I want it in this or not. This, along with any other pairings I may add in and whatnot, may change depending on where the story goes. Constructive criticism is helpful and not to mention welcomed. Flames, however, are not.

**Warnings**: I think I covered most of it in the Author's notes but: slight AU, OC team, maybe mild one-sided GaiOC pairing, violence, and language

Well, that's about it, I hope you will give this fic a chance, and now on with the fic! Enjoy!

"blah" speaking

'blah' thoughts

* * *

**Chapter 1: One Not-Entirely-Bad Day**

One day, one not-spectacularly-beautiful-but-still-sunny-and-bright day, a young boy was having what was turning out to be quite a bad day.

'Why do we have to live so far from the Academy!? Today's the ceremony where we get our teams and I'm going to be late for it! This is all Hiro-nii's fault!' the boy thought angrily as he weaved his way through the morning crowd, which was quite easy for him as he was quite short for a boy his age. In fact, if he thought about it, he was probably the shortest kid in his class. But the thing was he didn't have the time to think about it. That morning the boy's mother had told his older brother to make sure he was awake so he wouldn't be late for the ceremony; his brother woke him up over a half-hour after being told this. As a result the boy had to hurriedly get ready for the day and completely skip breakfast before running out the door. He had gotten a few blocks away only to remember he had forgotten his lunch and ran back to retrieve it, which made him even later! 'Yes, this is definitely all Hiro-nii's fault.'

With that much decided the boy looked ahead at the academy growing bigger and bigger as he drew nearer and nearer to it. Once reaching it the boy stopped hunched over, his hands resting on legs clothed in midnight blue pants, trying to catch his breath. His strawberry blonde hair stuck up in spikes either by gel or made wild by running against the wind. If it was the latter, the boy didn't seem to care as he stood up straight and straightened the white short sleeve shirt with rectangular clasps all down the front that he wore over a long sleeve fishnet shirt. Over both, wide midnight blue straps crisscrossed over his chest before looping behind him, and at the intersection a hitai-ate looped the straps. After, the boy entered the building and hurried to his classroom.

Inside the classroom the boy made his way to the back of the class, halfway there the sight of a girl stopped him. The girl had waist length blood red hair held in place by a black bandana. She wore a long, sleeveless, black Chinese style shirt that was slit up the sides lined in emerald green with a sash, of the same color, tied around her waist, ending in a bow and two long tails. A leg, clad in black Capri-like pants that ended in emerald green ribbon tied in a lose bow, bounced whether from agitation or boredom the boy didn't know. The boy opened his mouth as if to speak to her, yet no sound came. He closed it then opened it again looking, for all the world, like a fish out of water. A boy with chocolate brown hair sitting next to the redhead looked up at the gaping boy briefly before going back to whatever he had been doing. The boy shut his mouth once again with a click of teeth on teeth then bowed his head and turned quickly away before anyone could see his face go red with embarrassment, hurrying to the back of the classroom. 'Well, at least I'm not that late.'

If the redheaded girl had noticed the boy's presence or the fact that he had been trying to speak to her, she wasn't showing it. Her dark blue eyes were focused on the piece of paper on the table top in front of her on which she was doodling. Her leg bounced to the music blaring through her earphones. The chocolate brown haired boy next her to asked her something, but she didn't seem to hear. He frowned at her then reached out and jabbed her sharply in the shoulder with his finger. The girl looked up suddenly at the shoulder poker.

"We live our lives on the frontlines, we're not afraid of the fast times," he said. The redhead stared at him, confused, for a moment, trying to figure out why he had just sung part of the song she was listening to. The boy scowled more as he snatched the wire hanging down from the ear nearest him and used it to pull the earphone out. "I said did you hear me, Kareha."

"Uh, was I supposed to?" Kareha joked as the boy let go of the wire and crossed his arms over the green camouflaged vest he wore over a black short sleeved shirt and glared at her. "I'm sorry, Kei! I really am! Please say it again?" Kareha begged in an effort to appease her best friend's annoyance with her.

Kei let out an exasperated sigh, "Jeez, Kareha how do you expect to be a good ninja if you can't even tell someone's there because you have your music on too loud and you're always in your own little world? What if I had been an enemy? It would have been all too easy to kill you."

The girl pouted at him, "No it wouldn't," she muttered, then said louder, "and I'm not always in my own little world; I so knew you were there."

"Suuure, just like how you knew that shrimp was standing there trying to talk to you," Kei teased.

Kareha frowned at the name calling, "Don't be mean, Kei," she scolded with a punch to his arm. "And don't change the subject either. Tell me what you said."

Kei smirked at the redheaded girl, ignoring her punch, granted she hadn't punched him _that_ hard or at least not as hard as she usually punched him, and changed the subject again, "So do you think we'll be on the same team? I asked my dad how this worked last night and he said that they team you up in a way that balances out the group or something."

Kareha's eyes narrowed at him, 'He's doing this just to annoy me; he has to be!' A part of her mind suggested that this might be what he had said earlier, but judging by the look on his face it probably wasn't.

She opened her mouth to reply but stopped suddenly at the sight of a black haired boy with particularly thick eyebrows standing before her, "Good morning, Kareha-san!"

"Er…G-good morning, Lee," Kareha replied with a cheerful smile; she could feel Kei's highly amused grin on the back of her head. 'Damn him, getting enjoyment out of watching me squirm! I'll kill him for this!' But before she could begin killing him something occurred to her, "Lee, why are you here? Today's class is only for those who passed the exam."

"I did pass the exam, see my hitai-ate?" came Lee's reply as he helpfully pointed to his forehead protector, he seemed proud of himself.

'How'd he manage that?' Kareha mused, 'Maybe the same way I passed the cooking portion of the kunoichi classes. Or maybe he just stole the hitai-ate.' For a short moment Kareha became lost in thought of all the possible ways Lee could have gotten his hitai-ate without passing the exam, none of which were likely or even possible for that matter, before snapping back to reality, cheerful smile still plastered on her face; if there was one thing she prided herself on from her kunoichi training it was her acting skills, "Ah, that's wonderful to hear!" 'I guess.' She gave one last bright smile to Lee before turning back to Kei, with a glare when she found he was still grinning, hoping Lee would take the hint and leave. "I don't know but we'll probably find out soon because Shizuka-sensei just came in the room," she finally answered while glancing at their teacher who had indeed just walked into the class and called for silence.

When everyone had settled down Shizuka smiled and began speaking to his excited soon-to-be-former students, "Starting today you are all real shinobi, but you are just rookies compared to others. The hard part lies ahead." The man smiled in amusement as his students excitement grew then fell with much complaining and groaning at the last bit he'd spoken. He waited until they quieted down again before beginning once more, "Soon you will be assigned duties by the village; so today we are going to create the three-man teams. Each team will be given a Jounin sensei whose instructions you will follow as you complete your assigned duties. Now I have tried to balance out each team's strengths."

Cries of disappointment and indignation sounded throughout the room. Kareha was not one of them, she was sitting in her seat with her fingers crossed, silently chanting 'Not Lee, not Lee, not Lee…'

Shizuka ignored this as he began reading off the names, "Cell one: Misaki Aihoshi, Tanaka Kaoru, and Fujimoto Makoto."

"Awwww!" said a girl with short dark-blue-almost-black hair in a ponytail, Aihoshi, in disappointment. Some of the students laughed at the exclaimation.

Some minutes later Shizuka called out, "Cell eleven: Rock Lee…"

Kareha's eyes went wide and she chanted harder, 'Not Lee, not Lee, not Lee…'

"Hyuuga Neji…"

'Not Lee, not lee, not lee…'

"And Sato Tenten."

'Safe!' was Kareha's relieved thought as Shizuka began reading off cell twelve.

"Cell thirteen: Akiyama Kareha, Himura Kei," Kei and Kareha grinned at each other as they gave each other a high five, "and Nakamura Ren."

A boy who was really quite short with strawberry blonde hair spiked up and pale ice blue eyes at the very back of the classroom suddenly looked up and over at Kei and Kareha just as they turned to look at him. 'Well, maybe it wasn't such a bad day after all,' he thought with a shy little smile.

* * *

So, what do you think? Is it good? Is it bad? Is it anything? Do you not know? Review and tell me. I know the beginning is kind of slow and nothings happening now (and the next chapter will probably be slow too) but it gets better. 

Anyhow see you next chapter!


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto in any way, shape, or form. I do own anyone you don't recognize from the series.

"blah" speaking

'blah' thoughts

* * *

**Chapter 2: Lotuses and Fringed Pinks**

With the assignment of teams done Shizuka dismissed his students for lunch with the message that afterward he would be introducing their Jounin-sensei to them. Kareha and Kei rose with everyone else and made their way toward the door, but once there Kareha suddenly turned back, 'Whoops, I almost forgot.' She hurried to the back of the crowd, catching a glimpse of Kei, who had turned around and stepped out of the moving students when Kareha had turned back, and was now giving her a quizzical look. "Ren," she mouthed to him, Kei could practically hear the of-course kind of tone, if she had been actually speaking, like he was supposed to know what she was doing. Kareha saw him heave what was probably an annoyed sigh before going to stand next to the door to wait for them. 'But, he really should have known,' Kareha told herself as she spotted Ren at the very back of the stream of students. A grin spread across her face as she moved toward the boy, "Ren, Ren! We're on the same team, so come eat lunch with me and Kei!" With that Kareha grabbed his hand before the shorter boy had a chance to accept or decline the offer, if she had even been offering and not demanding, pulling him toward where Kei was waiting.

"So he's going to be eating lunch with us?" Kei asked nodding in Ren's direction as he joined Kareha and the boy in leaving the class.

"Yep," chirped the redhead in reply, "I persuaded him."

Kei smirked, "You call that persuasion?"

"Mmhm! Forceful persuasion!"

"If you insist." He looked over his shoulder at Ren, who had his head bowed, but Kei could see that his ears were red.

"I do insist!" By this time the three had reached the bench Kei and Kareha usually ate lunch on, "Sit," she told Ren before sitting down between the boys. For a few minutes they ate their lunches in silence, Kareha looked between the boys as she waited for either to start talking, Kei looked as if he didn't mind the silence, though he never was one for talking unless he was picking on you. Ren, on the other hand, looked very uncomfortable sitting there with them, like he'd rather be hiding under a bed or in a closet, whichever was nearer. Kareha heaved a mental sigh when it became apparent neither was about to break the silence, 'Too bad for them, I don't like silence.' With that she turned to Ren and said with a smile, "So, is it Ren as in lotus?"

"Ah, yeah," Ren replied embarrassed, cheeks tingeing pink.

Kei snickered something about being named after a flower and, as if by reflex, Kareha's arm shot out, hand fisted, toward whatever part of Kei happened to get in the way of her fist. Unfortunately for the boy, it was his head. Ren jumped slightly at Kei's loud yelp as his head jerked sideways. Kareha smiled, satisfied, 'But I didn't think Ren would get embarrassed by it.' "You know, you shouldn't be embarrassed of you name," she told him, "haven't you heard the saying: what is soft is strong?"

They spent the rest of their lunch break talking, though it was more Kareha talking and Ren and Kei making noises of agreement, or throwing in a small comment here and there.

"Wonder what our sensei is going to be like? Hopefully someone cool," Kei mused aloud as the three headed back to class. When they arrived, the first thing they noticed was a woman they had never seen before talking to Shizuka. She had steel colored eyes and black hair worn in an up-twist. By the look of her uniform, she was probably a Jounin. "Someone's eager," Kei whispered to the other two next to him.

Shizuka looked up at the three making their way to their seats, "Kei-kun, Ren-kun, Kareha-chan don't sit down." The three stopped in place and looked at their sensei, confused expressions on their faces, "This is your Jounin-sensei," he went on gesturing toward the new woman, who had turned to face them.

The woman now moved to stand before her new students. "So, you're team thirteen," she said while sizing them up, "well then, come with me." And without another word she turned toward the door and walked out.

Kareha, Ren, and Kei exchanged hesitant looks, not quite sure how to react. They looked back at the doorway only to find they'd been left behind, and hurried after their new sensei. They followed her to the edge of a small wooded area in the village where she stopped and sat on the large, protruding root of a nearby tree. Taking this as a sign for them to sit down too, Kareha, Kei, and Ren planted themselves on the ground in front of her. "Alright, so, my name is Ishida Nadeshiko and I, as you already know, will be your Jounin-sensei starting today. Now, let's start with you telling me a bit about yourselves."

"What do you wanna know?" Kareha asked.

"Huh? Well your name, for one, likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams, things like that," Nadeshiko answered. 'This girl looks familiar, but I can't figure out where I've seen her.' "And since you asked the question, you can go first."

"Eeeehhh? Well, okay, my name is Akiyama Kareha…"

Nadeshiko's eyes widened briefly before she composed herself again, 'Akiyama, so she's Isamu-sempai's little girl.'

"I like music, all kinds, star gazing, art, strawberry milk, training, and hanging out with my friends. I don't like needles," Kareha shuddered, as if the mere mention of needles was frightening. "My hobby is art, in general. My dream, well it's not really a dream because I _will_ make it happen, is to make the Ryuujima clan acknowledge me."

Nadeshiko gestured toward Kei, "Alright, your turn."

"Name's Himura Kei. I like star gazing, quiet, reading, cooking, cats, and solving things like puzzles. I don't like octopus, squid, and messes. Hobby: um reading, I guess. My dream is, well, I want to be something great."

"Great?" Nadeshiko guestioned, "What do you mean by that?"

An excited sounding tone entered Kei's voice, "Well, like something people will remember forever, like the sanin or a hero or something."

"Interesting. Now, the short kid."

Ren's expression fell a little at the mention of his height problem but started speaking anyway, "My name is Nakamura Ren. I like pizza and um being outdoors and with friends. I don't like being called short," he shot Nadeshiko a look. "I don't really have a hobby and my dream is to be as great a medic-nin as Tsunade-sama."

Nadeshiko smiled, "Nakamura as in the Nakamura clan? They've made quite a few contributions to the medical field, right?"

Ren nodded, "Ah, yeah; we also own a number of greenhouses where we grow medicinal herbs and ingredients for medicines. And a pharmacy in the village, also."

"Interesting, so do you know any medical jutsu yet or have you not gotten that far in your training?"

"I know a few low level ones. My mom says my chakra reserves aren't large enough yet for higher level medical jutsu," Ren said with a little, proud kind of smile.

Kei and Kareha stared at Ren, impressed. With a grin spreading across her face, Kareha voiced what both were probably thinking, "Wow! You're amazing Ren! I heard it's hard to become a medic-nin, no wonder you had some of the best grades in class!"

Ren blushed, "I-it's not really that amazing. When I say low level, I mean _really_ low level. Nothing that could save lives well maybe a fish's life, but not a person's."

Kareha disagreed, "But, still, still!"

Nadeshiko chuckled to herself as Kareha continued to gush and Ren continued to get redder. 'Ah, but back to business now.' "Alright! I have something I need to discuss with you," She said loudly to get her student's attention. At their silence she began, "Tomorrow you three will be taking the Genin exam—"

"Wait, what?" Kei interrupted, "We're already Genin. We took the exam a few days ago."

"No, what you took was a kind of preliminary exam to select the students who have the chance to become Genin. In the real exam only nine of the graduates will be chosen as Genin," said Nadeshiko in a very matter-of-fact way.

"Bu-but that's not fair! Why give us all our hitai-ate if only nine of us can actually become Genin? Isn't that a bit cruel?" Kareha cried in protest.

Nadeshiko's eyes narrowed, "Quiet," she snapped. "A shinobi must read underneath the underneath. You should know that." Kareha, Kei, Ren shrunk back a bit at their sensei's menacing expression. "Now, listen carefully because I'm only going to say this once. Tomorrow meet me at practice field five at 7:00 am, and bring you ninja equipment. If you're going to be late, don't bother showing up at all. Just consider yourself failed and head back to the Academy. That is all." Without another word Nadeshiko disappeared with a poof of smoke, leaving her stunned students behind. For a few minutes there was silence.

"She's not cool at all! She's the purest of evils," Kei complained.

* * *

Another chapter done! Please review. Next chapter will be the Genin exam. It's not going to be the bell test because using that wouldn't be very creative of me. Also, if you're wondering, the fringed pinks from the chapter title refer to Nadeshiko. The lotuses refer to Ren. 

Oh yeah, and thank you for the reviews, Neko-Cat-Sama and Liteflame!

Anyway, see you next chapter!


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto in any way, shape, or form. I do own any of the characters you don't recognize from the series.

"blah" speaking

'blah' thinking

* * *

**Chapter 3: Leaf Snatching**

After Nadeshiko left Kei, Kareha, and Ren had stuck around and talked for awhile. "We should get to the practice field early," Kei had suggested, "so there's no way anyone will get an automatic fail for being late."

Now, it was the next morning and Kei was making his way to Kareha's house, as she had not been at the spot they usually met up at, 'Knowing her, her alarm clock rang and she probably threw it across the room to make it stop, then went back to sleep.' He opened the gate of the wall surrounding her house and walked in, making sure to step over the tripwire that ran along the ground a few inches behind the opening. "Well, time to wake the dragon," Kei muttered to himself as he reached the front door and rang the doorbell.

When nothing happened after a few minutes, he rang the doorbell again and again and again, over and over in rapid succession. There was suddenly a distant bang from within the house, then the sound of heavy footfall growing increasingly louder as the person grew closer. Just as the steps sounded closest to the door, they were replaced by a loud, shrill shriek and the many thunks of many somethings hitting the floor as the person nearly killed themselves with their own trap. Kei stifled a snicker at the string of muffled curses that followed the near killing from behind the door. He heard the click of the door being unlocked and then pulled open. There was a sudden thwack as the door hit whatever sharp, pointy things had nearly killed the person on the other side earlier and the door was abruptly slammed shut again.

"Stupid kunai," was the only thing Kei could make out from amongst the muffled words on the other side of the door. It was followed by more thuds, farther away now, as the person removed the kunai from the floor and, by the sound of it, threw them at a wall. The door was then flung open to reveal a very unhappy Kareha, long red hair falling in her face to cover up her right eye and still in pajamas, "What!" she snapped. She fixed Kei with a glare that could probably make little children cry, he was sure; he figured he should be afraid for his life if she was giving him that look, but he'd been on the receiving end of Kareha's death glares far too many times for them to affect him anymore.

In fact, Kei could feel the corners of his lips twitching upward, "Morning sunshine." When Kareha continued to glower at him, Kei elaborated helpfully, "We're supposed be going to the training field." Kareha stared at him for a few seconds more as her still-not-quite-awake mind worked to comprehend Kei's words, before shutting the door again in his face. 'Why yes, I would like to come inside to wait while you take forever to get ready, thank you,' was the sarcastic remark that came to Kei's mind as he let himself in.

Kei shoved his hands in the pockets of his camouflaged long shorts and stepped out of the genkan, not bothering to take off his sandals. 'It would be a pain in the ass just to have to put them on again in a little while and I'm sure Kareha wouldn't care anyway.' Kei walked up the entry way, past a staircase in it that led to the second floor; looking ahead to find that Kareha had indeed thrown the kunai at a section of wall between two closed doors. As he drew nearer the smell of paint from an open doorway to the right of the entry way reached him. He turned left down another hall, past an open kitchen area, and then turned left again through a set of sliding doors, into the living room.

As Kei entered something caught his eye. To the left of him was a large, square raised platform; a smaller square pit was cut into the middle over which a traditional short-legged table sat. This was all set before a breakfast bar, built into the wall nearest him. Behind the table, there was a recess in the connecting wall, in it sat a Butsudan. The small shrine's doors were open and sitting in it was a picture frame that was turned down. 'It looks more beat up than the last time I was here,' Kei thought as he walked over to the shrine and lifted up the picture frame.

The picture was of a man with short, blood red hair; he had three long scars that ran the length of his face and looked as if the original wounds could have taken off the third of his skull they sectioned of from the rest of his face. The scars ran through his left eye which he held closed, the other hazel eye shone with laughter. The man had a very familiar smile, a smile Kei had seen on Kareha many times. In the picture the man had his arms around a woman with dark blue eyes and long white hair. She, too, was smiling. The glass that held the picture in had a long crack in it, Kei frowned, 'That _definitely_ wasn't there the last time I was here.'

Kei set the frame face down again and turned around to see a pair of feet in the doorway. He followed the feet upward to stare at Kareha as she stood there holding a small bottle of strawberry milk in one hand and a katana in the other. She had an odd look on her face but it wasn't directed at Kei, it was directed at the picture frame. "If you're ready, let's go," he said.

Kareha nodded as she tucked the katana into her sash behind her and headed for the door, Kei following. They paused at the genkan, so Kareha could put on her sandals, and then left the house; Kei standing back so Kareha could reset her trap and lock her door. They walked through the yard and out the gate, closing it behind them, all in a silence that, for once, Kei wasn't comfortable with.

As the gate closed behind them, Kareha pulled the cap off her strawberry milk and took a long drink from it. Kei made a face at the milk and said, secretly thankful for a chance to break the silence, "How can you drink that stuff?"

Kareha gave him a look like the answer was obvious, "Because it's good, duh."

"Pssshhh," was Kei's reply, not believing her words for a second. "You shouldn't lie, it's not good and all, what with leading people on and everything," he added as he flung an arm around the shorter girl's shoulders and tried to discreetly snatch the bottle from her hold.

Kareha pouted, "I am not lying, you just have bad taste." She pinched his hand hard, making it withdraw, though Kei didn't remove his arm.

Kei let out a bark of laughter and rolled his eyes, "Whatever! I'm not the one with bad taste. I think you just murdered your taste buds with all those sweets you eat." He poked her in the cheek and gave her a lopsided grin, which only made Kareha pout harder. 'At least it's back to normal,' Kei thought as they continued with their usual playful arguments and sometimes not-so-playful arguments as they walked through the village toward practice field five.

* * *

Once there, they found Ren waiting for them. "Sorry for the wait, we were kinda delayed; _someone_ didn't wake up on time," said Kei, shooting a look at Kareha, who glared at him in return. 

Kareha punched Kei in the arm for good measure, before turning away from him and smiling apologetically at Ren, asked, "You didn't wait long, did you?"

Ren smiled softly back and shook his head, "No, I only got here a little while ago."

Kareha's smile turned brilliant at the words, "Good! I'm glad!"

They only had to wait twenty more minutes before Nadeshiko arrived, during that time Kareha talked and Kei only talked when he had to; and Kareha tried to coax Ren into joining in and failed spectacularly. A smile formed on Nadeshiko's face when she walked into the clearing her three students were gathered in, a timer in her hand. "Good, you're all here on time. Because if one of you didn't pass, none of you would pass," she said with a wicked grin

Kei, Kareha, and Ren's eyes grew large, 'It's a good thing we decided to come early then, or Kareha would have had us all failed,' was Kei's relieved thought, shooting another look at Kareha.

"Now lets get down to business," all three of her students suddenly gave Nadeshiko their undivided attention, "Here's how this test is going to go: I'm giving you until 11:00 am," she set the timer for four hours and set it on a nearby stump, "to get this," she pointed at the hitai-ate on her forehead, "from me."

"That's it?" Kareha blurted incredulously.

"Yep, but I'm warning you, if you don't come at me with the intent to kill, you'll never get it," she said, a wry smile spreading across Nadeshiko's face.

'She seems confident about that. Can she back that up, though?" Kei mused. 'Probably, she's not a Jounin for nothing after all.' He met Ren's eyes, before glancing at a clump of bushes farther away that would keep them out of sight and still allow them a good view of the clearing. Ren gave a small nod to show he understood to meet there.

"Alright then!" Nadeshiko barked, "Ready, start!" With that she hit the button that started the timer and Kareha, Kei, and Ren disappeared from the clearing.

* * *

Kareha, Kei, and Ren crouched in the bushes together, facing each other, "So, why did you want us to meet here?" Ren asked quietly. Kei and Kareha gave him shocked looks, having never heard Ren speak up without being addressed first, before. 

'He must be serious about this. Good.' "Because," was Kei's reply, just as quietly, not wanting their sensei to hear, "I think we should work together to get Nadeshiko-sensei's hitai-ate from her."

Kareha and Ren gave him quizzical looks, "How come?" Kareha whispered.

"Well, I've been thinking, yesterday Sensei said only nine of the graduates will become Genin. And we've been put into _three_-man teams for a reason, right?" At his teammates' nods, he continued, "So, what if when she said nine graduates, she meant three teams? Don't you think that would mean we're supposed to work together? And now that I think about it, why would she fail all of us if one fails if this was based on individual ability? Unless, of course, she really is the purest of evils."

"That makes sense," Kareha agreed.

Ren didn't bother voicing his agreement, but turned to regard their sensei, who was still standing in the clearing looking rather bored. After a minute or two, he turned back to the other two and for a moment his eyes looked white. Then he blinked and they were their normal blue-white color again. "She looks strong," he said.

"H-how do you know that?" Kei asked, a bit unnerved by what he'd just seen. 'Were the Flower Boy's eyes just white or was that just a trick of the light... It was freaky looking.' Kei shook the thought away and peered at their sensei. 'How can he tell she's strong by looking at her? I can't.'

"Ah, it's because of my clan's doujutsu. I can kinda get a power rating on the people I look at with it. It's only in the first stage, so that's all I can give you… sorry," Ren explained softly, looking down at the ground, and fiddling with his hands.

'Oh, I think I've heard of that, it's called the Bunkaigan or something. So that means it wasn't a trick of the light. Creepy.'

Kareha smiled encouragingly at Ren, "Don't be sorry. Now we kinda know what were going up against. It's helpful!" Ren looked up at Kareha and her smile brightened when he smiled back. Kareha turned serious again, "Anyway, we need to come up with a plan," she said taking charge. "I know Kei's a genjutsu type and I'm a ninjutsu type. What are you, Ren?"

"Uh, I'm a taijutsu type," was Ren's quiet reply, he knew what was coming.

Kareha and Kei stared at him for a moment, dumbfounded. It was Kareha who found her voice first, "Nuh uh."

"You're lying," Kei, finding his voice as well, accused. Ren's eyes narrowed and he looked back down at the ground.

Kareha looked from Ren to Kei with wide eyes, "Kei, I think he's serious."

"He can't be serious," Kei looked at Ren, "What do you do? Run around your opponent's feet until they get tire and collapse from exhaustion?"

"Kei, be nice!" Kareha scolded as she punched him hard in the arm for the second time that day.

Kei ignored the punch, "I am being nice. That was a perfectly sound question."

Kareha closed her eyes, wanting to say something in return, but knew they could not afford an argument about Kei's mocking comments; she opened her eyes again and gave the other two a hard look, "Ok, alright! We're just going to have to believe him. We're wasting time and we still haven't come up with a plan."

Unbeknownst to the plotting trio, a Kage Bushin sat high in a tree that loomed over their bushy hideaway. 'Oho, so they've figured it out already. I must admit, I'm impressed. This Kei is a sharp one,' she sighed to herself, 'But, I knew I shouldn't have said that one fails, you all fail thing, but it was out of my mouth before I could stop myself.' A grin spread across the clones face as she continued to listened in, 'Heh, they've given my some smart ones this time around. Shame, I'm smarter. But, I have a feeling this is going to fun anyway.' At that the clone made a hand seal and disappeared in a poof of smoke. So busy with their plotting, the trio down below didn't notice this, nor did they notice the corners of Nadeshiko's lips turn upward in a smile at her newly acquired information.

* * *

Nadeshiko stood in the clearing for what seemed like forever, though it was really no more than half an hour, waiting for her three students to finish planning and act. Suddenly there were shuriken coming at her from the left, right and front; she reached into her weapons pouch and pulled out two folded, steel bladed fans. In one smooth motion she flicked the fan in her left hand open with a shink of mental grazing metal, revealing the fan's black silk covered ribs and the image of a full moon the color of blood in the center, and swung it backwards in an arc. The strong wind current the action produced knocking the incoming shuriken to her left out of the air. Nadeshiko swung the fan forward and in front of her, twisting with the action, catching sight of a charging Ren in the corner of her eye to her left in the process, and once again knocked the incoming shuriken in front of her out of the air. 

As she turned with the swing, Nadeshiko spotted another Ren coming from above; she dropped into a low crouch avoiding the Ren on her left's high kick. The shuriken to Nadeshiko's right soared over her head and struck the boy only for him to disappear in a poof of smoke. She rolled forward and back on to her feet before twisting around and clubbing the second Ren in the back of his head with the closed fan in her right hand. He too, disappeared in a poof of smoke.

Sensing a presence behind her, Nadeshiko whirled around in time to block and parry Kareha's katana's downward slash, then kicking the redhead away in the stomach. Kareha hit a nearby tree trunk and vanished in a poof of smoke as well, a leaf falling where she had been. Another Kareha charged at her from the right just as something that felt suspiciously like fingers caught the edge of Nadeshiko's forehead protector.

Eye's widening in alarm Nadeshiko flicked the fan in her right hand open, revealing white silk and painted fringed pinks, and swung it at the person behind her as she twisted around. She was met with smoke as the person disappeared, a leaf floating to the ground where they were supposed to be. Nadeshiko sidestepped the charging Kareha and kicked her in the back, only to find it was a Bushin too.

'What's with all these Bushin?' Nadeshiko thought a bit annoyed as she ducked a slash from Kei's kunai before punching him in the stomach, just to have her fist meet smoke. 'That one too! The only real ones were the first Kareha and whoever tried to sneak up on me a while ago.'

Still in her crouch, Nadeshiko reached for some kunai and threw them at a coming Ren, who twisted out of the way, but still came at her. When he was in range Nadeshiko slashed at him with the blades of a fan, again Ren twisted out of the way, skidding past her and catching a hold of a tail of her forehead protector, before jumping away. Nadeshiko twisted around, partly to rip it out of his grip and partly to attack as she swung a fan at him to knock him away. Yet again, the boy disappeared in a poof of smoke, a leaf replacing where he'd been. 'And that one. He's not bad though and quite fast.'

The Bushin came faster and more in number now, but Nadeshiko hadn't even broken a sweat yet as she jumped back up to her feet in order to dodge a punch from a Ren Bushin before stomping on his back to make him disappear. She swung a fan around knocking away two Kareha with the wind current produced, both disappearing in a poof of smoke, one being replaced by another leaf. 'But, they sure know how to utilize Bushin no Jutsu and Kawarimi no Jutsu.'

Nadeshiko knocked away three Kei and one Ren with a fan watching as they disappeared, then sidestepped a slash from the kunai of another Kei and kicked him away, foot connecting with smoke. 'But really,' she punched a Kareha in the face making her disappear; Nadeshiko, then, closed her left fan and twisted out of the way of another Kareha's attack before clubbing her in the head with the fan, the redhead disappearing in a poof of smoke. 'If they're trying to confuse me,' Nadeshiko knocked a Kei and Kareha away, the two disappearing, 'so, they can take my hitai-ate when I'm not paying attention or something,' five Kareha, five Kei, and five Ren charged at her all at once; a rather mischievous smile spread across Nadeshiko's face as she brought her hands up and started making seals, 'they'll have to do better than this!'

Nadeshiko finished making the hand seals, yet nothing happened. She just stood there, smile still on her face; it was as if the jutsu had been a dud. Just then, the katana of a Kareha, who was coming in low, sliced through Nadeshiko, their sensei flickering and fading away.

What happened in the next few seconds happened so quickly, it is hard to put in chronological order. Very suddenly the Kareha was staring into the wide eyes of a Ren coming from above who she was about to get a face full of fist from. The Ren, in return, was about to get a face full of sword. The Kareha gave a shrill shriek, letting go of her katana which fell and clattered on the ground before hitting the ground herself, hands covering her head. The Ren, with nothing to stop his trajectory, flew over Kareha's body; watching the ground rising rapidly to meet him. Ren brought his hands up to protect his head and neck as he crashed into the ground and slid a few feet. Kei, who had been coming from behind, hadn't enough time to stop and his legs collided with Kareha's body, tumbling forward and rolling a few feet just as the Bushin collided with their originals, disappearing in one big cloud of smoke that engulfed the three.

As the smoke cleared Kareha straightened up, coughing and looking around, their sensei was no where in sight. "Wh-what the hell was that?! Some kind jutsu? I didn't even see her make hand seals!"

* * *

'Three hours! We've been at this for three hours and we still haven't gotten that damn hitai-ate! She keeps using that stupid afterimage jutsu and getting away!' Kei fumed to himself, pacing the small area Ren, Kareha, and Kei had retreated to, somewhere in a wooded area of practice field five, after their latest failure at snatching their sensei's forehead protector. All three of them were dirty and sweaty and tired looking. 

"We have to figure out a way to keep her from using her hands," said Kareha.

"Yeah, but I'm running out of ideas," Kei replied running his hands through his unruly, chocolate brown hair.

"Well, we're running out of time," said Kareha, a bit frantic, "We probably only have time for one more attempt. If we don't get it this time, it's back to the academy for us."

"I know, I know! But what can we do, it's like, it's like—"

"She knows what were planning," Ren suddenly interrupted.

Kei and Kareha turned to look at Ren, surprised, "You noticed it too?" Kei asked. Ren nodded an affirmative.

Kareha turned to scan their surroundings, "I don't see her anywhere. I don't sense her near here, either."

"We should still be careful," warned Kei, before dropping his voice to a whisper, forcing Kareha and Ren to come close in order to hear him.

Up in a tree, a Kage Bushin sat, watching her three students huddled tightly together with their heads down as they worked out their last plan of attack. 'Well, it took them long enough to realize that I was spying on them.' The Kage Bushin sighed to herself, 'I doubt I'm going to get any information on their plan this time, so…' with that she raised her hands and made the seal to release the jutsu, disappearing in a poof of smoke.

* * *

Nadeshiko stood in a small clearing, waiting for her students, 'They'll run out of time if they don't hurry,' bladed fans in hand, but closed. Suddenly, she heard something crashing noisily through the brush, coming in her direction. Judging by the amount of noise the something was making, Nadeshiko doubted it was an animal, 'Unless it's a bear or something.' She hoped, vehemently, that it wasn't one of her students, either, 'Because, really, if they're trying to sneak up on me and are making that much noise, I should just send them back to the academy right now, because they _obviously_ didn't pay attention to the lesson on stealth.' 

Nonetheless, Nadeshiko stared into the trees in front of her, waiting for the thing to show itself. Much to her dismay, it was Kareha who emerged. The girl had a wide grin on her face that reminded Nadeshiko alarmingly of the girl's father. Nadeshiko glanced around, the two boys were nowhere in sight

"Hey, Sensei!" Kareha said loudly, stopping a short distance in front of Nadeshiko, "I hope you're ready, because your hitai-ate is _so_ mine!"

Nadeshiko wanted to laugh, but her face remained in its bored expression, "Big talk for someone who has yet to even come close to touching my forehead protector. But, you know what they say? The weakest dog barks the loudest."

Kareha pouted, but her smile returned almost instantly afterward, this time, with a distinct cocky air to it, "Humph, this time is different. I do better alone." At this Kareha reached behind herself and unsheathed her katana, before charging at her sensei.

'Now that really makes me want to laugh!' "You say that, but your actions say otherwise. Obvious attacks like this," Nadeshiko blocked the katana with the closed fan in her right hand, "are pointless!" As Nadeshiko finished speaking, she kicked Kareha away in the stomach.

Kareha disappeared in a poof of smoke, a log replacing her. Nadeshiko looked around, trying to locate where the girl had disappeared to. She whirled around to face Kareha as she came from above, sword slashing downward. Nadeshiko took a half step backwards and leaned back, the blade missing her face by mere millimeters, not noticing the blade skimming over the cloth of her forehead protector; the sharp edge ripping it slightly.

Kareha landed on the ground in a crouch and lunged up and forward at Nadeshiko. Nadeshiko deflected the attack with a closed fan, and then moved to block and parry the katana again as Kareha slashed upward. For a moment, or two, there was only the clang of the metal of Kareha's katana meeting the metal of Nadeshiko's bladed fans as they moved closer to the edge of the clearing.

'It seems like she's trying to force me to a certain spot,' Nadeshiko noted as she ducked and dodged, parried and blocked Kareha's katana. Nadeshiko blocked Kareha's diagonal slash, Kareha pressing forward so that her katana grinded against her sensei's closed fan. One of Kareha's hands let go of the hilt of her sword and reached behind her, into her weapons pouch. It came back with a kunai that Kareha used to swipe at Nadeshiko's stomach. Nadeshiko's eyes went wide before shoving Kareha away.

The redhead skidded a few feet, jamming the kunai into the ground and using it to slow herself down. Kareha stood up then, and sheathed her katana; her cocky smile was, once again, spreading across her face. Kareha raised her hands, quickly forming hand seals. As she finished, Kareha took a deep breath in then shooting it back out again in the form of many small fireballs. Nadeshiko jumped to the side, dodging the fireballs. The fireballs, instead, hit a string hidden amongst the trees, burning through it.

Kareha jumped up into the trees just as smoke bombs fell to the ground around the clearing, 'A trap?' The smoke filled the area, Nadeshiko coughed, inhaling some of it. She squinted around, 'Shit, I can't see anything! I've got to get out of here.'

Nadeshiko moved to get out of the smoke, when suddenly a sandaled foot connected to the hazy form of a leg came out of nowhere, the rest of her attacker's body vanishing in the thick smoke. She took a step back, dodging it. The foot disappeared as it was drawn back, before being replaced by a fist. Nadeshiko made to catch the fist, but ended up with a fist full of smoke instead. The person attacked again, a high kick at her right this time. She twisted out of the way, the attacker, Ren, 'I'm pretty sure it's Ren's foot,' just barely missing her face.

Suddenly, Nadeshiko's legs collided with something very solid. The solid thing knocked her feet out from beneath her and Nadeshiko suffered a brief sensation of falling, before two sets of arms wound around both of hers, as Kei and Kareha, 'Masked by genjutsu, probably,' Nadeshiko noted when she found herself unable to see even their hazy forms, grabbed her.

Kei and Kareha pulled Nadeshiko to the ground and pinned her there. The hazy form of Ren appeared over her and reached down to grab her hitai-ate, when a loud, shrill bell sounded somewhere in the practice field, signaling that Kei, Kareha, and Ren's time was up.

The genjutsu dropped, and Kei and Kareha became visible. They let go of Nadeshiko's arms, allowing her up. "No, no, no, no! We were so close!" Kareha wailed, stomping her foot repeatedly from her sitting position on the ground, kicking up dust.

Kei didn't say as much, though his look of disappointment mirrored Kareha and Ren's. Ren plopped down on the ground near Kareha and then fell backwards onto his back.

Nadeshiko stood, flicking her right fan open and swung it to blow some of the smoke away. She turned and swung her fan again, blowing away some more smoke. When all the smoke had cleared away, Nadeshiko looked down at her three student's downcast faces, this time seeing them properly instead of hazy silhouettes "Well, time's up and you didn't take my hitai-ate from me. And taking my hitai-ate was a requirement to pass the test."

Her students looked up at her, eyes going wide, but they weren't looking at her face. They were looking at her forehead protector. Unnoticed to Nadeshiko, her hitai-ate leaned oddly to the side. The rip Kareha had made earlier had gotten bigger, aided by the weight of its leaf inscribed metal plate. Now, they watched as the last threads that held the cloth together gave out under the weight of the metal plate. Nadeshiko opened her mouth to continue speaking, but stopped abruptly when it suddenly fell off her forehead onto her left shoulder. It rested there for a few seconds before the weight of the metal plate pulled it down and the forehead protector hit the ground with a dull thud.

Nadeshiko stared down at her hitai-ate, stunned, 'Well, I'll be damned." She looked back up at her students and found she had to smile at their expressions against her will, 'They look so hopeful.' She bent down and picked up her hitai-ate, "Unfortunately, as the timer has already gone off, this doesn't count," Kei, Kareha, and Ren's expressions fell again. "However I must commend you on figuring out that you needed to work as a team so quickly, though the point of the test isn't about figuring out you had to work as a team. The point of the test is to see if you _could_ work as a team." She paused then to look into each of her students in the eye, "And, you have shown me that you can."

Kareha, Ren, and Kei were silent for a while, not quite believing their ears. "So, does that mean," Kareha asked a bit hesitant, wanting to believe they'd passed, but not wanting to get her hopes up, "we're not going to be sent back to the academy?"

Nadeshiko smiled at them, "Not today."

A wide grin spread across Kareha's face as she jumped up with renewed energy. She grabbed the hands of the person closest to her, Ren, and dragged him to his feet. "Whoohoo! We're niiiiinja, niiinja, niiinja!" Kareha sing-songed, dancing around the area with Ren. Ren, in all his excitement at passing, forgot, for a moment, his shy nature and danced with Kareha; a large, toothy smile threatening to split his face. Kareha vows to see more of that smile.

* * *

**Shini's Index of things to know: **

_Kage Bushin_: (Shadow Clone) For those who don't know. Don't worry, it's not really a spoiler, just an aspect of the jutsu you learn later in part two of Naruto. Anyway, when the jutsu is released the original acquires whatever the clone(s) learn or whatever experience they gain.

_Fuuton: Daifuu_: (Great Wind) It's what Nadeshiko was doing with her fans. It can also do cutting damage.

_Zanzou no Jutsu_: (Afterimage Technique) It's like Kawarimi no Jutsu except instead of substituting yourself with something physical, Nadeshiko substitutes herself with a kind of stationary Bushin and there's no poof of smoke when it's used. The afterimage can stay there for hours, even days, as long as it isn't disturbed, otherwise it will disappear.

_Bunkaigan_: (Analysis Eye) The Nakamura clan doujutsu, their eyes turn white when it is activated. It's powers are penetrating vision into the body (Users can see individual organ systems and what not, and what takes place inside of them. To better explain what I mean look at the actual definition of analysis. It means the separation of a whole into its component parts). Users can also see the movement of chakra in the body; and analyzes the target's fighting style and body, and shows and pinpoints weaknesses in the target's body and fighting style. It has three stages.

_Stage one_: Allows the user to see the muscular system, measure the amount of muscle mass in the target, and tell which muscles are more conditioned for fighting than others and which are more susceptible to injury. Users can determine how large the target's chakra reserve is and the amount of stamina the target has. This gives the user a rough feel of how strong their enemy is.

_Stage two_: Allows the user to see vital organs and major blood vessels. It allows them to see the movement of chakra within the body and allows the user to determine the chakra type of the target. This gives a general idea of what type of techniques and jutsu the user can expect to be used by the target. It also shows weak spots (including blind spots) of the target.

_Stage three_: Allows the user to see fully into the target's body (as in, they can see everything). It allows the user to track chakra movements to predict what type of technique will be used by the target. Last, it analyzes the target's fighting style, picks up and pinpoints weaknesses in the fighting style.

The doujutsu only gives information though; it's up to the user to use the information right.

So, anyway, that's it for chapter three. Please review and tell me what you think. I hope the fight scenes weren't too horrible. This is the first time I've tried writing a fight scene. Unless you count the fight scene I wrote for the rough draft of the first chapter of my book, but you can't really call that a fight scene. XD Anyway, I tried really hard on it.

Thank you for the reviews again!

See you next chapter!


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